Interdependent Web

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session details: Practical Semantic Web and Why You Should Care

video by Robert Nelson Vance

• The Semantic Web is for propellor-heads with Ph.D.s
• it's really about bringing more meaning to the Web.
• RDF = Resource Description Framework = "robot food" -- turn human-readable information into machine-readable, distinct XML format
  
• RDFa is the standard adopted October 14, 2008 by the W3C allowing RDF to be embedded within XHTML pages
  • both formats are searchable with SPARQL, but RDF is usually more appropriate for large quantities of data, to strip out the non-semantic text
    
• sometimes Apple is a fruit, sometimes a company, etc.  links need "flavor"
  • in HTML, can use <a rel=> to give links flavor
  • RDFa allows you to use <a property=>
• how to add these semantic tags to your pages?
  • OpenCalais is a top-down process -- point it at your site, and it adds tags
  • bottom-up approach is to add tags as we create themes, pages, etc.
  • Zemanta module will automatically suggest relevant images for pages as you write them, and tag them appropriately
    
• http://Recovery.gov is using Drupal 5, does not currently support XML output, but that is planned
• StumbleSafely, dc Bikes use open data and Drupal to create new information
• DC's Digital Public Square is "pure robot food" -- needs processing to make it palatable to humans
• in the past, we moved data to where the processing is (desktop computers); in the future we will move processing to where data is (web servers)
  
  • Internet will be like the public library system, but for robots
• Drupal is on track to be the first general-purpose CMS with significant semantic data out of the box.  D7 will be the most widely deployed semantic platform as soon as it is released.
  
  • existing sites (dbpedia, FOAF profiles, etc.) have over 2 billion RDF triplets.  D7 will conservatively produce that many each month, probably more.
• Views in the future could (will) use SPARQL to retrieve data from other sites
• maybe you care about money: "blog" stands for Better Listings on Google.  Post to a blog, your ratings go up
• existing modules: RDF, RDFCCK, SPARQL, EVoc, Exhibit, Exhibit Views (?)
  
• MOAT module currently only for D5, allows free tagging to be semantic
• go forth and experiment today!
• Dries said every movement needs a mission -- Drupal's is to help evolve the Web.
• question: how can we trust the information people have marked up?  Won't spammers exploit RDF?  Distributed identity & trust networks to the rescue... but there will undoubtedly be more problems to solve.
• http://groups.drupal.org/semantic-web